Drive-By Truckers alum Jason Isbell's New Album 'Southeastern' is breathtaking ...
Last edited Fri Jun 21, 2013, 11:55 AM - Edit history (3)
Newly sober, recently married (his new wife plays and sings on the album as well ... and I'm fairly sure that's her in the below vid, and the song is clearly meant for her, so it makes the performance a little extra touching), the kid has absolutely hit it out of the park with this release. Funny that the last post before mine when I posted this was a Steve Earle video, from his own 'just freshly sober' album.
Well, I kid you not ... Southeastern is actually every bit as brilliant as 'Train a' Comin' and even up there w/my all-time fave 'I Feel Alright' (I've seen Steve 4 times over the years, including Copperhead Road tour and Jerusalem tour, I even have a signed copy of Jerusalem too!).
If Roots/Americana/Alt Country is your thing, and you love GREAT songwriting and guitar playing, this album will freaking FLOOR you.
Here's a sample, the first track on the album, played in some dive bar by the look of it. Not the best recording but still pretty dang good sound. And the song is so ... so beautiful. Had me crying like a junkie hitting one week of clean time 
This blurb from one of the recent glowing reviews on teh album gives you a good idea what to expect:
Each of the songs is a stunner. “Cover Me Up” is on the one hand a gentle, insistent love song, and on the other a moving testament to personal redemption that never once turns a blind eye to past indiscretions. It sets the tone for the remainder of the album, which is given equally to the promise of romance and the ever-looming possibility of suffering, both self-induced and arbitrary. “Elephant” is an unflinching examination of the wages of sickness. “Live Oak” brings the murder ballad into the 21st century by forcing upon the narrator an undeniably modern sense of self-awareness and self-doubt. “Relatively Easy” gives the album an optimistic ending, though the singer tacitly acknowledges the threat he continues to pose to himself (the adjectives and adverbs tell the story: e.g., “my angry heart beats relatively easy”).
As good as the songs are (and I can’t stress enough just how good they really are), Isbell’s singing may be even better. It’s certainly some of the best vocal work he’s yet committed to tape. His baritone, always rich, is deepened here by a grittiness that lends Southeastern a real soulful quality (check his dynamic delivery on “Flying Over Water”). And in terms of sheer sound, the record has no equal in his catalog. It’s cohesive, to be sure, grounded throughout in brittle acoustics and modest, winning melodies, but it’s lifted by subtle, evocative flourishes—some wonderful slide work on “Cover Me Up,” or the plaintive fiddle on “Traveling Alone,” to give just a few examples.
By any reasonable aesthetic criteria, Southeastern is a triumph. It’s a vindication for those of us who have charted our lives by his work, carrying songs like “Outfit” around like talismans. It’s the most potent expression to date of Isbell’s talent (including his DBT output) and, hopefully, a harbinger of great things to come.
A heart on the run
Keeps a hand on the gun
You can’t trust anyone
I was so sure
What I needed was more
Tried to shoot out the sun
In days when we raged
We flew off the page
Such damage was done
But I made it through
cuz somebody knew
I was meant for someone
So girl leave your boots by the bed
we ain't leavin' this room
Til someone needs medical help
or the magnolias bloom
It's cold in this house and I ain't going out to chop wood
So cover me up
and know you're enough
to use me for good
Put your faith to the test
When I tore off your dress
In Richmond on high
I sobered up
I swore off that stuff
Forever this time
And the old lovers sing
"I'd thought it'd be me
Who'd help him get home"
But home was a dream
One I'd never seen
Til you came along
So girl hang your dress up to dry
we ain't leavin' this room
Til Percy Priest breaks open wide
and the river runs through
Carries this house on the stones like a piece of drift wood
Cover me up
and know you're enough
to use me for good
= new reply since forum marked as read
